“For the People” – mackaycartoons

Thursday August 15, 2024

August 15, 2024 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 15, 2024

Doug Ford’s Government: For the People or For the Developers?

June 25, 2024

The Ontario Greenbelt scandal has cast a long shadow over the Ford government’s claims of transparency and public interest. While the premier and his ministers insist they are “an open book,” recent actions suggest a different narrative—one where the voices of developers ring louder than those of everyday citizens.

The Greenbelt was created to protect our environment and curb urban sprawl, yet the Ford government attempted to remove 7,400 acres for housing development. The Auditor General’s report revealed that developers with close ties to Ford’s party were favoured, potentially inflating property values by billions. This has led many to question whether the government’s actions were truly in the public’s interest or driven by a desire to benefit political friends.

News: As RCMP investigates Greenbelt scandal, finance minister says Ford government is ‘an open book’

January 23, 2024

Adding to the controversy is the “Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act,” which eliminated third-party appeals in planning processes. This move has effectively silenced the public’s voice, removing a critical check on municipal planning and zoning decisions. The language of “cutting red tape” and “building more homes faster” masks a more troubling reality: the reduction of democratic participation in favour of expediency and the interests of developers.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s assertion that the government is transparent does little to alleviate concerns. The secrecy surrounding mandate letters and the unwillingness to fully disclose communications adds to the perception of a government more interested in protecting its own than in serving its constituents.

Opinion: Doug Ford has to make it clear: Is he for the people or for the developers?

February 16, 2023

The RCMP’s investigation into the Greenbelt scandal is a step towards accountability, but it is ultimately up to the people of Ontario to pass judgment on their leaders. In a province where voter turnout is often low, there is a real risk that such dubious behaviour might go unchecked. Apathy and disengagement could allow the Ford government to continue down a path that prioritizes developer interests over those of the people it was elected to serve.

October 22, 2022

The housing crisis in Ontario is a pressing issue, but it cannot be solved by sidelining public input and eroding trust in government. True leadership requires listening to constituents, balancing diverse needs, and fostering inclusive growth. The Ford government must decide whether it wants to be remembered as a champion for the people or as a facilitator for the few. The choice should be clear, but recent actions have cast a long shadow of doubt. As the investigation unfolds and elections loom, it is up to informed voters to make their voices heard and demand better from their leaders. (AI)

Wednesday April 13, 2022

April 13, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 13, 2022

Just how bad is COVID-19’s sixth wave?

Hamilton’s public school board is writing a letter to the provincial government asking for the now-lifted mask mandate to be restored. Halton is back to having outbreaks at long-term-care facilities and at least one Haldimand-Norfolk LTC facility is back to restricting visitors, again due to COVID.

July 25, 2020

Further afield, some schools in the London area are reverting to online learning because their staff and student ranks are so hard hit. And one hospital in Waterloo Region is closing its emergency room overnight because it no longer has staff to keep it open.

Anecdotally, more and more of us are saying we now see more COVID among our families, friends and networks than at any other time during the pandemic. And, most ominously, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths are climbing — again.

Friday June 11, 2021

June 18, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 11, 2021

The Canadian Charter’s notwithstanding clause is increasingly indefensible

It isn’t happening in Quebec, but in Ontario, so there will be more of a fuss than would otherwise be the case.

September 14, 2018

But there will be less of a fuss than the last time the Doug Ford government threatened to use the notwithstanding clause to override constitutionally guaranteed rights. The next time it happens, there will be less still. And there will be a next time, and a next time after that, and another, and another – precisely because the political costs of doing so diminish with each use.

This is how the clause is being normalized. This is how, in consequence, the Charter of Rights is being eviscerated. It is already more or less a dead letter in Quebec, where the override has been invoked over the years by governments of every party. Once upon a time it might have caused something of a stir, at least outside the province, as when Robert Bourassa used it to uphold the ban on English-language signs in 1988.

September 21, 2019

But having paid no discernible price for invoking the clause to protect Bill 21, legislation that effectively bars the hiring of religious minorities across much of the public service, Quebec’s CAQ government was quick to do the same with regard to Bill 96, its new and harsher language law. A rights “guarantee” that cannot protect minorities from overt harassment and discrimination – a guarantee that applies only as when the government of the day decides it should – is not much of a guarantee at all.

July 28, 2018

And now it is happening elsewhere. Mr. Ford’s first attempt to use the clause, over a 2018 bill that would have cut the size of Toronto city council in half – in the middle of a municipal election – may have collapsed in confusion, but now the Premier is back for another try. This time the casus belli is Bill 254, legislation passed earlier this year that would, among other things, double the length of time before an election campaign during which third-party advocacy groups would be subject to spending limits.

As before, the Premier has supposedly been provoked to action by a judge’s ruling, overturning the legislation on Charter grounds. But as before this is not really the issue. The government could have appealed either ruling to a higher court, and even had it lost there, it could have rewritten either bill in ways that addressed its purported intent, without unduly limiting Charter rights. (Globe & Mail)

Wednesday July 10, 2019

July 17, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 10, 2019

Doug Ford says he acted ‘immediately’ on patronage scandal caused by former chief of staff Dean French

Premier Doug Ford says he addressed the patronage scandal created by his former chief of staff Dean French “immediately.”

June 27, 2019

Taking media questions in public for the first time since the controversy broke late last month, Ford — in Alberta Monday for the Calgary Stampede before heading to a meeting of premiers in Saskatoon — said “you know something, I think I addressed that pretty quickly. As a matter of fact, I addressed that immediately when we were in Toronto.”

However, he added, “we aren’t here to talk about Dean French. We’re here to talk about internal trade. This is the first opportunity this country has ever seen in recent memory that from coast to coast, from the east to the west, we have like-minded premiers” which is “incredible for the entire nation.”

Ford also accused the media of wanting “to get into the weeds” when the public wants to know about jobs and the economy.

“Do you really think when I walk down the street in Alberta, people worry about Dean French?” Ford added.

Opposition critics immediately slammed Ford. NDP MP Taras Natyshak (Essex) said the premier was “hiding out instead of taking responsibility for the patronage appointment scandal that has rocked his government,” adding he “finally popped his head up only to pass the buck in Cowtown.”

April 17, 2019

Natyshak said “make no mistake about it, Doug Ford is the conductor of his own gravy train. He hands out tickets to his cronies and he ditches them when he gets caught. Ontarians expect better conduct from the premier of this province.”

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said Ford’s evasiveness when asked about French “demonstrates a lack of respect for the people of Ontario.”

The Calgary gathering of five premiers — Ford, Alberta’s Jason Kenney, Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick and Bob McLeod of Northwest Territories — comes ahead of this week’s meeting of all premiers and territorial leaders at the Council of the Federation.

Kenney characterized the pre-meeting — which included a visit to the Calgary Stampede — as a “brief and fairly informal get-together” to talk about jobs and the economy.

Moe, the host of this year’s federation meeting in Saskatoon, said the five are a “table of mutual interest” and not an ideological group, despite their similar political leanings. (Hamilton Spectator)

Saturday June 8, 2019

June 15, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

June 8, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 8, 2019

Andrew Scheer has an Ontario problem — and it could be Doug Ford

October 2, 2004

Andrew Scheer’s Conservative Party is struggling to make inroads in Ontario, the battleground province that’s likely to decide October’s federal election. He might have Ontario Premier Doug Ford to thank for that.

Multiple polls suggest Ford and his Progressive Conservative government are deeply unpopular, just one year after ousting Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals from office.

While those polls undoubtedly aren’t being welcomed by provincial Progressive Conservatives — and may have been the motive behind Monday’s about-face on cuts to municipal funding — they don’t necessarily represent a pressing problem for Ford. He still has another three years to go before the next provincial election.

But the Ford government’s dismal poll numbers could present a big problem for Scheer, who needs Ontario if he’s to win the federal vote that’s now less than five months away.

The Conservatives continue to hold a six-point lead over the Liberals nationwide in the CBC’s Canada Poll Tracker, an aggregation of all publicly available polling data. The Conservatives have led ever since the SNC-Lavalin affair sent Liberal support tumbling.

June 5, 2019

The party has seen some significant gains in certain parts of the country. Compared to where the Poll Tracker pegged Conservative support in January and early February (before the SNC-Lavalin story broke), the party has gained up to five points in Quebec and the Prairies and between five and nine points in Atlantic Canada.

The Conservatives are also holding their support in British Columbia and Alberta. The drop in Liberal support has increased the Conservatives’ lead by about four points in B.C., five points in Alberta and nine points in the Prairies, while shrinking the Liberal lead in Quebec and Atlantic Canada by about 11 and 22 points, respectively.

But the dial has not moved as dramatically in Ontario.

The Conservatives hold a slight edge over the Liberals in the province, with 37 to 34 per cent support. While that represents a big drop for the Liberals, who won 45 per cent of the vote in Ontario in the 2015 election, it shows Scheer’s party up only two points over the result that cost Stephen Harper his job — and down as much as five points from where the Conservatives were in the province at the beginning of the year. (Toronto Star)